Toxic Packing

Most Historians consider Franklin Roosevelt's attempt to "pack the court" a serious and dangerous error. But refusing to give Merrick Garland a hearing and then doing away with the filibuster in order to allow a Republican president to pack the court was every bit as bad. Neil Gorsuch shall forever be known as the Republican [in]justice squatting in the stolen seat. Not being content with that the Republicans persuaded Justice Kennedy to retire so that Donald Trump could appoint Kennedy's successor to the court. Making this obscene act of partisanship even more egregious is the fact that Trump is under investigation for committing crimes against this country and is generally considered to be unsuited both intellectually and emotionally for the high office he holds. Michael Wolff's book, Fire And Fury, Omarosa Manigault-Newman's book, Unhinged, Bob Woodward's book, Fear, and an op-ed by someone the New York Times characterizes as being high up in the Trump administration all confirm what we have been hearing from a white house that is leakier than the Titanic; which is to say that a large number of the people close to Trump question his intellect, his knowledge, and his mental health. Just who you want to be appointing people to crucial life long positions, isn't it?

But fear not, the Donald turned to the right wing, anti-government Federalist Society for help, and they gave him a list of their favored reactionaries to choose from. When looking at the Federal Society's list you have to bear in mind that Trump said he would appoint to the Supreme Court justices who will protect the right to life, meaning he wants someone who will overturn Roe v. Wade. Needless to say that with five people close to Trump pleading guilty to committing crimes, Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, being convicted of criminal acts, and Trump's long time accountant, Alan Weisselberg, being granted immunity Trump was and still is desperate to end the Special Counsel's investigation. Fortunately for Trump Brett Kavanaugh, whose expansive view of presidential power and immunity from indictments must have seemed like a godsend to Trump, was added to the Federalist Society's list! Is it any wonder why Trump eagerly appointed Kavanaugh?

So now the rush is on to get Kavanaugh confirmed before the next session to the Supreme Court. Indeed so great is the rush that the Republicans are using it as an excuse for not making available to the committee holding the confirmation hearings any of the records from Kavanaugh's time as George W. Bush's White House Secretary, even though those documents are likely to deal with subjects such as torture, stem cell research, same sex marriage, and abortion. Furthermore, over forty thousand pages of documents were not delivered to members of the committee until the day before the hearings, and the requests for a recess to allow members to read those pages were not granted. Where was this great concern for having nine justices on the court when the Republicans refused to even consider the appointment of Merrick Garland? Ah but things have changed since then. For one thing we did not have a president who has apparently committed high crimes and misdemeanors back then!

What should be obvious to any observer at this point is that the confirmation hearings are a farce and a sham. And just in case anyone missed that point the Republicans provided another example by labeling as classified relevant documents that contained no information any government security agency has deemed classified. The apparent intent of labeling those documents classified was to prevent any member of the committee from asking Mr. Kavanaugh about the information the documents contain. Clearly the Republicans have done everything in their power to hide information about Kavanaugh form the Democrats and from the public at large. This fact plus Kavanaugh's obfuscations and evasions where too much for the Democrats to bear, and much to his credit Senator Cory Booker led a revolt.

In what Senator Booker called his Spartacus moment, he announced that he was breaking the rule by making public a document bearing the committee's classified label. Senator Cornyn, from Texas, warned Booker that the penalty for breaking that rule can be expulsion from the Senate. “Start the proceedings against me,” Senator Booker challenged. Senator Mazie Hirono then said “and against me because I'm also going use a document that is classified.” Several other Democratic senators made similar statements. The Democrats then proceeded to use those documents in their questioning of Kavanaugh, thereby demonstrating how spurious the classified designations were and how deceptive and unresponsive Kavanaugh was being.

This revolt by the Democrats is more than just a shot across the bow. They, the Democrats, are finally making the Supreme Court and particularly the outrageous packing of the court an issue. Hopefully in doing so they will be able to make the voters realize what is at stake, because packing the court with reactionary [in]justices will deprive the people of this country of precious rights for generations to come. Think about it for a moment. In jeopardy are reproductive rights, the right to vote, the right to collectively bargain with employers and to seek legal remedies when injured by dangerous products or unfair employment practices. And those are just a few of the rights under attack today!